The Scripture call to worship for our service is the ninth verse of Psalm 99: “Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy!” In the Old Testament, the people of Israel were to worship God at the temple of Yahweh. They gathered at God’s holy mountain, the temple mount in Jerusalem. Today, true worshipers, who approach the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, do so in Christian churches where the word of God is rightly preached and the ordinances rightly observed. So this Lord’s Day we will gather to exalt the LORD our God and worship him here, at First Baptist Church.

In the prayer service, we’ll return to Psalm 119. The hymn we’ll be learning during the month of July is O Lord of Heaven and Earth and Sea (Gray 33). We’ll try it this Sunday for the first time.

This Sunday, the sermon is based on Exodus 21:33-22:15, various laws dealing with theft and restitution of damage done to other’s possessions. We see here that the Eternal God is concerned with our doing what’s right to others. God is concerned that we make things right, that we treat others the way we want to be treated.

Hymn 206 [Red] Father, We Thank Thee Who Hast Planted One of the things we learn from Exodus 21:33-22:15 is how much our God is concerned with his people’s just dealings with others. If we do harm to others’ possessions, we should make it right. Yet, even in the Law, the Lord provided guidance for matters where who did what to whom was an unanswered question. The response in part taught the people to trust that the Lord would finally judge those who did wrong to their neighbors. We are taught today to leave such matters to God and to leave ultimate vengeance and justice to him. This hymn about Communion captures this idea nicely when the author prays in the second stanza, Watch o’er Thy church, O Lord, in mercy, save it from evil, guard it still. At the same time, as the stanza goes on to petition the Lord, at the Table we are reminded of the gift of our common love and union we have been given in Christ, represented each time we gather around the Lord’s Table: Perfect it in Thy love, unite it, cleansed and conformed unto Thy will.

Prayer

Benediction

In Sunday School, I will teach a second lesson on the Word of God and its relationship to our spiritual growth. In preparation, read the third chapter of Whitney’s Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life.